Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is the place to be if you like to write and share Japanese poetry forms like haiku, choka and tanka. It’s a warmhearted family of haiku poets created by Chèvrefeuille, a Dutch haiku poet. Japanese poetry is the poetry of nature and it gives an impression of a moment as short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water. ++ ALL WORKS PUBLISHED ARE COPYRIGHTED AND THE RIGHTS BELONG TO THE AUTHORS ++ !!! Anonymous comments will be seen as SPAM !!!

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

First I will apologize again for being late with this new episode .... but now I will bring it to you. We are on the trail with Basho and his companion Sora on our way into the deep north following the story as told by Basho in his famous haibun Oku no Hosomichi (Narrow Road into the Deep North).

Basho was known as the traveling poet and in the last ten years of his life he traveled a lot. Of all his travels he wrote a haibun, but Oku no Hosomichi became the most famous haibun ever. I even think that there is not an other haibun which can reach the quality level of Oku no Hosomichi.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

As I was
still descending, I saw an old smithy built right on a trickling stream.
According to my guide, this was where Gassan, a local swordsmith, used to make
his swords, tempering them in the crystal-clear water of the stream. He made
his swords with such skill and devotion that they became famous throughout the
world. He must have chosen this particular spot for his smithy probably because
he knew of a certain mysterious power latent in the water, just as indeed a
similar power is known to have existed in the water of Ryosen Spring in China.
Nor is the story of Kansho and Bakuya out of place here, for it also teaches
us that no matter where your interest lies, you will not be able to accomplish
anything unless you bring your deepest devotion to it. As I sat reflecting thus
upon a rock, I saw in front of me a cherry tree hardly three feet tall just
beginning to blossom - far behind the season of course, but victorious against
the heavy weight of snow which it had resisted for more than half a year. I immediately
thought of the famous Chinese poem about 'the plum tree fragrant in the blazing
heat of summer' and of an equally pathetic poem by the priest Gyoson, and felt
even more attached to the cherry tree in front of me. I saw many other things
of interest in this mountain, the details of which, however, I refrain from
betraying in accordance with the rules I must obey as a pilgrim. When I
returned to my lodging, my host, Egaku, asked me to put down in verse some
impressions of my pilgrimage to the three mountains, so I wrote as follows on
the narrow strips of writing paper he had given me.

There are several places in Japan which are seen as sacred and holy, but some of those places hide secrets too. One of those secrets was on Mount Yudono. Let me tell you a little bit more about the secrets of Mount Yudono.

Basho wrote "not permitted to tell" on Mount Yudano (meaning: bathroom). On this mountain was a spectacular waterfall which had been a Shinto place of worship since early times. Only men could visit it and only after a rigorous climb with several rituals and services in various temples. At the gate, after purification rites, they must remove their shoes to climb the rocks barefoot. In addition, before being allowed to view this wonder, each men had to swear never to reveal what he witnessed there.

In modern times, in interests of disclosure, the secret of
Mount Yudano has been revealed.

Due to the
wearing away of the rock and the reddish minerals in the thermal-warmed water,
the waterfall looks exactly like the private parts of a woman complete with
sounds and gushing water. The practice can be thought of as worshipping the
reproductive aspect of the feminine earth.

Knowing this, the name of the mountain becomes clear. Even clearer is the earlier name for the mountain, Koi no Yama ("mountain of love")>

Maybe you remember this haiku from an earlier post, but you can also have read this one in our Carpe Diem Haiku Writing Techniques "double entendre".

too late
for the ferry
after a steaming hot summer night
with my paramour

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until December 18th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our next episode, another Carpe Diem Haiku Writing Techniques episode, later on. Have fun!

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IMPROMPTU VERSE

Sometimes a haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form comes in mind just in one eye-blink. Those poems I call Impromptu-verses. Here I will publish these Impromptu-verses. Today's Impromptu verse: (10)

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Publishing Policy

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Carpe Diem is the place to be if you like to write and share haiku (or another Japanese poetry form like e.g. tanka). It's a family of haiku loving poets.Japanese poetry is known as the impression of a short moment, say a heartbeat or an eye-blink, in which nature plays an important role.It's free to participate in Carpe Diem. By participating in Carpe Diem, you agree with the use of your work in the exclusive e-book series of Carpe Diem.Of course your work will be credited as Carpe Diem always does. However all the texts and works at Carpe Diem are copyrighted and the rights belong to the authors.

March 20th 2016

Chèvrefeuille, your host

PS. Of course it is possible that you don't want to have your work published in our exclusive series of CDHK e-books. Please let me know that by sending an e-mail to our e-mail address carpediemhaikukai@gmail.com